Mitt Romney's proposed answer to this refusal to allow "the people" to choose was that "we need to have a Federal marriage amendment ... because states like Massachusetts will take the course they did."

June 12,2007 marks the 40th anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision in Loving v Virginia on June 12, 1967 which struck down the remaining interracial marriage bans in 16 states in the US, ending race discrimination in marriage.

New Hampshire becomes the fourth state to allow same-sex civil unions, joining Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey, and the first to do so without a court order or a pending lawsuit. Only Massachusetts allows same-sex marriage.

Under the bill, couples eager to marry who attend a state-approved premarital counseling course will have the state's marriage license fee -- which would double from $30 to $60 -- waived. Couples who receive counseling will also dodge

By the numbers, divorce just isn't what it used to be.
Despite the common notion that America remains plagued by a divorce epidemic, the national per capita divorce rate has declined steadily since its peak in 1981 and is now at its lowest lev

Gov. John Lynch said Thursday he will sign legislation establishing civil unions for gay couple in New Hamphsire. "I believe it's a matter of conscience, fairness and preventing discrimination," Lynch told the AP.

A new study reveals that a cluster of genes, involved in immune function among other things, could predict how sexually attracted a person is to a partner and how likely a woman is be faithful to her mate. ["a woman," hummm]

Proponents of same-sex marriage in Washington state have introduced a ballot measure that would require heterosexual couple of have a child within 3 years or have their marriages annulled. The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance

In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, MIchigan's second-highest courts says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison

"The law makes it burdensome, if not close to impossible, to adopt the wife's name," says legal director for the ACLU of Southern California. "It reflects the archaic notion of a woman's subordinate place in the partnership.**Q

Relationship experts report that too many couples fail to ask each other critical questions before marrying. Here are a few key ones that couples should consider asking (forwarded to my 4 unmarried children)

Out-of-wedlock births in the US have climbed to an all-time high, accounting for nearly 4 in 10 babies born last year. Many experts believe a large number of C-sections are medically unnecessary and done only for the convenience of the mother or her

A father may teach his young daughter about his religious belief in polygamy - despite his ex-wife's objections, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said. Stanley Shepp has a constitutional right to express his beliefs about plural marriages and multi

Calling their lives blessed, more than a dozen children and young adults from polygamist families in Utah spoke at a rally, calling for a change in state laws and the right to live the life and religion they choose.

Massachusetts' highest court ruled that voters could decide whether to ban gay marriage in the first and only state to legalize it, while a California court weighed the constitutionality of such a ban.

A 15-year-old girl can enter into a common-law marriage in Colorado.
The 3-judge panel stopped short of setting a specific minimum age for such marriages, but it could be legal for girls at 12 and boys at 14 under English common law, which Colorado

Arizona law-enforcement agents, investigating charges of underage marriage and sexual abuse, raided four houses simultaneously in Colorado City, Ariz., a polygamous enclave on the Arizona-Utah border. Investigators, in the unusual show of force, seiz

Law enforcement agents in Arizona investigating charges of underage marriage and sexual abuse raided four houses simultaneously in Colorado City, a polygamist enclave on the Arizona-Utah border.
Investigators, in the unusual show of force, seized

A small American town is facing accusations of seeking to drive unmarried couples with children out of town on grounds they do not fit the local definition of a family. The brewing controversy in Black Jack, a town of 6,800 in the central state of M

Ahmadinejad warned of UN action: "They should know that the Iranians will dash their illegitimate resolution against the wall." As this high-stakes diplomacy gets under way, we explore some basic questions about Iran's nuclear program:

Small polygamous groups have existed in the southwestern US under the watchful yet fairly benign eye of authorities ever since a sect known as the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints separated itself from mainstream Mormonism in 1890.

[Dangerous criminals might shoot back.] Polygamist church leader Warren Jeffs has been placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in hopes that the additional exposure and reward money will lead to his arrest.
Jeffs, 50, is accused of

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), a prospective 2008 presidential candidate, thinks bans on same-sex marriages have no place in the nation's laws. Puts him at odds with Democratic politicians who support gay rights but not same-sex marriage. Shoul

Gay marriage supporters failed to overturn in court a same-sex union ban endorsed by voters in the US state of Oregon last year. The appeal came after a state supreme court ruling that voided around 3,000 gay marriages carried in the state out last